The question of abortion grips our nation.  Abortion is either the taking of a human life or it isn’t.  And if it is—­and medical technology is increasingly showing it is—­it must be stopped.  It is a terrible irony that while some turn to abortion, so many others who cannot become parents cry out for children to adopt.  We have room for these children.  We can fill the cradles of those who want a child to love.  And tonight I ask you in the Congress to move this year on legislation to protect the unborn.

In the area of education, we’re returning to excellence, and again, the heroes are our people, not government.  We’re stressing basics of discipline, rigorous testing, and homework, while helping children become computer-smart as well.  For 20 years scholastic aptitude test scores of our high school students went down, but now they have gone up 2 of the last 3 years.  We must go forward in our commitment to the new basics, giving parents greater authority and making sure good teachers are rewarded for hard work and achievement through merit pay.

Of all the changes in the past 20 years, none has more threatened our sense of national well-being than the explosion of violent crime.  One does not have to be attacked to be a victim.  The woman who must run to her car after shopping at night is a victim.  The couple draping their door with locks and chains are victims; as is the tired, decent cleaning woman who can’t ride a subway home without being afraid.

We do not seek to violate the rights of defendants.  But shouldn’t we feel more compassion for the victims of crime than for those who commit crime?  For the first time in 20 years, the crime index has fallen 2 years in a row.  We’ve convicted over 7,400 drug offenders and put them, as well as leaders of organized crime, behind bars in record numbers.

But we must do more.  I urge the House to follow the Senate and enact proposals permitting use of all reliable evidence that police officers acquire in good faith.  These proposals would also reform the habeas corpus laws and allow, in keeping with the will of the overwhelming majority of Americans, the use of the death penalty where necessary.

There can be no economic revival in ghettos when the most violent among us are allowed to roam free.  It’s time we restored domestic tranquility.  And we mean to do just that.

Just as we’re positioned as never before to secure justice in our economy, we’re poised as never before to create a safer, freer, more peaceful world.  Our alliances are stronger than ever.  Our economy is stronger than ever.  We have resumed our historic role as a leader of the free world.  And all of these together are a great force for peace.

Since 1981 we’ve been committed to seeking fair and verifiable arms agreements that would lower the risk of war and reduce the size of nuclear arsenals.  Now our determination to maintain a strong defense has influenced the Soviet Union to return to the bargaining table.  Our negotiators must be able to go to that table with the united support of the American people.  All of us have no greater dream than to see the day when nuclear weapons are banned from this Earth forever.